Alec Mapa

Mark Dundas Wood
"Baby Daddy" Laurie Beechman Theatre – February 9, 10, 11 At the top of his show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, actor-comedian Alec Mapa told the audience about his recent Las Vegas engagement. He said he had been asked by management to watch his language. Mapa assured the largely gay and gay-friendly Beechman crowd that...

Noah’s Very Unusual Insight

Mark Dundas Wood
The Duplex  –  January 27, 28 The premise of Noah's Very Unusual Insight (directed by Stephanie Fittro) is pleasingly silly. Patient "Noah A." (Michael Hanko, who also wrote the script), a gay man living in New York, is introduced to the audience by his longtime psychotherapist, Dr. Lorna Gallo (Peter Lappin). Noah suffers from ABD...

Gary Negbaur

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Diggin' the Beatles: A Pianoman's Soulful Journey through the Beatles Songbook" Metropolitan Room  –  Jan. 19, 20 "Diggin' the Beatles," at the Metropolitan Room, was not a scholastic exploration of the Beatles, a group that disbanded over 40 years ago and yet still has a musical Popularity Quotient that is universal, spanning generations. Nor was...

Parker Scott

Kevin Scott Hall
"Selecting Souvenirs" Don't Tell Mama  –  January 28, then monthly In his new show, "Selecting Souvenirs" (also the name of the CD he released late last year), Parker Scott tells us that he recently realized that this was his fifteenth year of doing cabaret in New York and beyond. Now, after a break of a...

Petula Clark

Roy Sander
Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  January 24 – February 11 When Petula Clark opens her show at Feinstein's singing "I Concentrate on You" slowly and with quiet solemnity, I thought to myself, "This is a chancy thing to do." After all, though her extensive work in films and in the theatre have earned her considerable...

Joel Ginn

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Singing Bing" Metropolitan Room  –  Jan. 12, 14. 26, 28 Have you noticed how few tributes have been given lately to Bing Crosby? Everyone knows his name and the songs he sang, but perhaps Crosby's laid-back, casual approach has just not been firing up current performers. So thanks to baritone Joel Ginn for "Singing Bing"...

Jessica Sherr

Kevin Scott Hall
"Bette Davis Ain't for Sissies" The Triad  –  January 12 & 13 Jessica Sherr, who enjoyed a sold-out run at last year's New York Fringe Festival with her one-woman show about Bette Davis, has brought Bette Davis Ain't for Sissies back for a run in the clubs and has wisely chosen The Triad, with its...

Tanya Holt

Roy Sander
Urban Stages – December 10 When Tanya Holt performed recently at the estimable Winter Rhythms festival at Urban Stages, it was her first solo offering in five years. During the intervening period, I saw her sing an occasional song or two in variety evenings or as a guest artist in other people's shows, and having...

Mark Nadler

Kevin Scott Hall
"Crazy 1961" Laurie Beechman Theatre  –  December 1, 8, 11, 18, January 15, 22, 29 Boisterous pianist and singer Mark Nadler has been entertaining cabaret crowds here and abroad for quite a few years, and now he's pulling out the stops for a romp through "Crazy 1961," a celebration of his birth year in music,...

Christine Ebersole and Aaron Weinstein

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Strings Attached" Birdland  –  November 27, 28 There are some sturdy strings attaching singer/actress Christine Ebersole to Aaron Weinstein, a jazz violinist with a bent for comedy on the side. The two have more than a couple of qualities in common. Ebersole, the chick singer in this jazz duo, pointed out that they both love...